– Alexander Albon spoke about his cooperation with his Williams teammate Carlos Sainz and explained why both drivers openly share their setup data instead of relying on mutual secrecy within their own garage.
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The season 2026 has been difficult so far for the Grove team in Formula 1. The team currently ranks ninth in the constructors’ championship with eleven points, while Sainz and Albon are in 16th and 17th place in the drivers’ standings with six and five points respectively.
Despite the natural rivalry that exists between teammates, Albon emphasizes that the current performance deficits of the Williams car make close cooperation absolutely necessary.
No secrets at Williams
In an appearance on the podcast The Fast And The Curious after the Dutch Grand Prix, Albon described in detail how drivers in other teams often withhold data to gain an advantage – but that such tactics would currently be counterproductive at Williams.
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“What happens in some teams – and I know this – is that you find something on your car, but it’s nothing the other car couldn’t also find,” explains Albon. “It could be a line in a corner, the gear choice, a direction in the setup, or the way we use the electronics system in the car.”
“So you could find something good but just don’t mention it. You keep it to yourself on your side of the garage.”
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“Realistically speaking: That doesn’t apply to us – at least I don’t do that, maybe Carlos does, I don’t know,” he laughs. “But because of the limits of our car, we’re kind of working together on it.”
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“It’s almost like we both have the same feedback with the same problems, and then we can split the cars,” Albon continues. “One car might find: ‘Yes, that works,’ so the other car follows. Sometimes it’s also: ‘Oh, that works and that works, so we take a bit of both.’ You try back and forth.”
“‘Oh, that’s the wrong way, so the other car went the other way, then we do it like that now.’ But you need a balance.”
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“I remember that happened much more often when you have two rookie drivers and you’re kind of fighting for the same [position]. You can imagine the elbows get thrown out a bit more then,” adds Albon.
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